Father says goodbye to family killed in Ohio crash

PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP -- Danny Griffin Jr. said Friday he's focusing on the happiness he experienced with his family, five of whom were killed last month by a wrong-way truck in an Ohio interstate crash.

"I don't want you to sit there and go through life and never achieve happiness," he said following a memorial service for family and friends at Our Lady of Good Counsel Roman Catholic Church in suburban Detroit. "It is something that exists. It really exists."

The Detroit News reported that more than 175 people attended the services held for his wife, Bethany Griffin, 36, of Parkville, Md., and three of her daughters -- Vadie Griffin, 2 months; Lacie Burkman, 7; and Haley Burkman, 10. Danny Griffin's daughter, Jordan Griffin, 10, of Redford Township, also died in the crash.

Michael Gagnon, of Adrian, faces five counts of aggravated vehicular homicide in the Dec. 30 crash on Interstate 280 in Toledo.

Gagnon's parents live in the Muskegon area.

Investigators said after the crash that Gagnon's blood-alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit when he drove the wrong way and slammed his pickup truck into the minivan of the family, which was returning to Maryland from a visit to Michigan.